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I've been thinking of a way to ensure all the butterfly friendly seeds I've been trading for have a decent chance of making it. The back pastures of the ranch are literally overgrown with grass and native brush and I tried tossing out seeds last year but very few made it maturity.
Am planning on discing up a path alongside the dirt roads that go around the perimeter and sowing seeds there in the hopes that seeds actually sown won't get eaten by the ground squirrels, quails and doves etc.
However, since we're working on the pond, re-digging and re-shaping it - we've got tons of soil piled up as a berm around it. Got to thinking maybe we should flatten the berm for a better view of the pond and move the soil further away and make a few small hills or 'mesas' for a change of pace. You know how some butterflies like perching up on hills to scope out the area.
Also got to thinking it would be easier to lay down some railroad ties and make a few raised flower beds which would help keep the native grass and weeds in check.
Then another bolt of lightening hit me - that I could use the old farm tractor tires we tossed in a back corner of junk and use a few of them for flower beds too! There's plenty of soil from the pond berm that could be used to fill them up. For sure I'd be able to keep those weeded easier. I'd really like to plant each one with a specific larval hosts like milkweed, dill, aristolochia fimbriata etc. but am wondering if they'd end up looking like an eyesore.
Main question...do you think the black rubber will be too hot? They'd be out in the open and our temperatures often hit 100+ during the Summer months.
If anyone has any tractor tire flower bed photos I'd like to see them. Also suggestions about painting them a lighter color to ward off the heat and any advice about using tractor tires for flower beds.
~ Cat
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